Longview Police ID dead body found in front of restaurant - KSLA News 12 Shreveport, Louisiana News Weather & Sports

The Longview Police Department has identified the dead body found in front of a Longview restaurant as 44-year-old Ken Miguel Owsley.

A group of East Texans made a gruesome discovery Thursday afternoon outside of a Longview restaurant--the body of a dead man.

After lunch with friends Thursday afternoon at Buffalo Wild Wings in the 3000 block of N. Eastman Road in Longview, Jack Simpson went outside to his car. His first hint that something was wrong was the smell.

"It was kind of disturbing," Simpson said, " We thought maybe, you know, dog, cat, possum, something. It was actually a person. A friend of mine looked over and said, 'Hey, there's a dead body here.'"

Simpson and his friends called 911. Police arrived and found the man's body. But as of right now, his gender is really all that's certain.

"Decomposition, obviously, has set in," said Longview Police Officer Kristie Brian, "So, at this time, we can't even tell what the race of the male would be. [He's] been here for an undetermined amount of time, but more than just a few hours."

Simpson said that Police said it looked like the body had been there for a couple of days. He made sure that authorities found the cell phone that was next to the body, and described some of the injuries he saw.

"The back of his head was obviously in pretty bad shape," Simpson stated, "But, he was laying backwards, so we couldn't tell if he hit his head. There was nothing on the concrete wall, we didn't see any blood there, but a lot coming out of the back of his head. But, obviously, we didn't want to touch the body."

And the spot where the body was lying may explain why it was able to be there, possibly for days, without being detected.

"The right of way is a pretty wide right of way, then there was a grassy area just in front of the body. And, the body was actually down in a little dip area. So, it's possible that no one saw it," Officer Brian says."

Police believe Owsley has family in Arkansas. He was using the Highway 80 Rescue Mission and had bought a city bus ticket last Tuesday. An autopsy is pending.

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